August 28th, 2007 - Happy Birthday LeAnn Rimes!

She has won an American Music Award, two Grammy Awards, three Academy of Country Music Awards, and twelve Billboard Music Awards. She holds three important records in the music industry, as the current youngest person to win a Grammy and her version of “How Do I Live” is currently the longest charting song on the U.S. Hot 100 at 69 weeks. This was the first multi-platinum country single selling over 3 million copies.

LeAnn Rimes is one of the youngest Country music vocalists ever to come to fame, alongside other previous teen stars, like Brenda Lee, Tanya Tucker, and Billy Gilman. Unlike most child stars, Rimes has remained successful in music in adulthood, recording various kinds of music, including, rhythm and blues and Pop music.

LeAnn started singing before the age of two. A few years later, Rimes and her family moved out to Texas, and before age 11, she released her first album titled Everybody’s Sweetheart (album) in 1991 on a small independent label. The album’s release garnered the attention of label executives and disc jockeys, including disc jockey, Bill Mack, who was fascinated by Rimes’ Patsy Cline-styled voice. Mack then began to cultivate a plan to make Rimes a mainstream Country music artist. Between the years 1992 and 1994, Rimes continued to release albums under independent labels that failed gaining any type of success in the Country music world. By then her family had relocated to Garland, Texas. She began honing her skills as a country artist performing on Johnnie High’s Country Music Revue in Ft. Worth, a popular show that featured local artists and national acts. Throughout 1995, Rimes’ career continued to gain momentum, as she performed more than 100 concerts and appeared on television shows across Texas.

In 1995, Mack arranged a recording contract for Rimes under the Nashville record label, Curb Records, and also sent out a demo release of the song “Blue”, a song Mack had originally intended for legendary Country-Pop music singer, Patsy Cline to record. However, her death in March 1963 failed for Mack to give the song to Cline. The DJ claimed that he had been waiting over 30 years for the right singer to record “Blue” for him. However, this story was later found out to be over-exaggerated. The song had actually been recorded by three different artists, including Bill Mack and Kenny Roberts, who both released singles of the song under Starday Records in the 1960s. Kathryn Pitt released her version of “Blue” in her native country of Australia. Soon, Rimes was recording her newest album (also called Blue), which was soon released to the general public in 1996.

And at 16, Rimes tried to take the reins of her career from her father. In 2000, she filed suit against her father, claiming her father and his partner pocketed some $7 million of her earnings and kept tens of thousands in cash hidden in a safe on her tour bus.

Amid the legal battles, Rimes fell in love with backup dancer Dean Sheremet. The two met when he was cast to dance during Rimes’ performance when she hosted the 2001 Academy of Country Music Awards. Since meeting each other, the two have since been married, and Rimes has also reconciled with her father since the wedding. In 2002, she publicly denounced her I Need You album, which her record label had assembled from studio outtakes.

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